Sweet Beers

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and what better way to enjoy your traditional sweet and chocolate treats than in beer form. Beer becomes more and more diverse every day, and rest assured you can get everything you want this February in the following brews.

Charleville Box of Chocolates. This 10.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) beast comes out of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and tastes exactly as the name would imply. It’s loaded with a ton of chocolate notes and has all of those great dark fruits you would find in a traditional quad. This beer is boozy and is enough of a “quad” to keep traditional Belgian beer drinkers like me interested, while the chocolate and fruit notes makes it approachable for anyone who wants their dessert served in a glass.

Lindemans Framboise. This Belgian classic is loaded with raspberries and definitely falls into the sweet category. It’s a “lambic” by nature, meaning that it’s going to be on the sour side, but the huge amount of raspberries used to finish it makes the beer come off as merely “tart” and packed with raspberry sweetness. While lower in alcohol (2.5 to 4 percent ABV depending on if you get it in a bottle or on draft), the sweeter nature of this beer means you don’t need more than 8 ounces at a time to satisfy your taste buds. Think of this beer if you have a plain piece of cheesecake, a simple crème brulee or a nice piece of chocolate cake for dessert. For me, this brew acts like a nice drizzle of raspberry syrup to compliment your plate.

Southern Tier Crème Brulee. Once again, this beer leaves nothing to the imagination. This almost black stout smells, tastes and has the mouthfeel of a heavy crème brulee. It’s loaded with vanilla and like the other beers listed, 8 or so ounces will be more than enough to satisfy your craving for something sweet. The 10% ABV allows this beer to be a great nightcap and act as a nice dessert for someone looking to relax on a couch with a cozy fire. It is normally found in 22-ounce bottles and is perfect for sharing after a nice meal with two to four people.

All of these products will be available around Columbia in bottles, and occasionally on draft. Cheers.